Virtually brilliant side of sci-fi

Folding Beijing originally appeared in the BBS website of Tsinghua University in 2012 and was published three years later in Uncanny Magazine with an English translation by Chinese-American sci-fi writer and translator Ken Liu. It brought a breakthrough in her writing career and the top global award in the genre.

This work, which took her around "one month to plan and three days to write", tells the story of a father's struggle to send his daughter to school in a futuristic Beijing－also an allusion to the difficulties that some Chinese parents are undergoing today to ensure their children receive a high-quality education.

It was the suburban housing community where she lived then that inspired her to write the story. She found her neighbors' lives in sharp contrast with those living downtown, where she works.

"It occurred to me that in our world, some groups of people actually have no interaction with other groups, and they are not willing to learn about each other. So, I decided to write about the isolation," Hao says.

The Hugo Award came as a big surprise to her and has brought important changes to her life.

"I thought it would just be an award, noticed only by people in the field. I didn't expect it to bring this huge attention," she says.